A 43-year-old Allentown man is charged with homicide in an Allentown barbershop stabbing.

Customer after customer arrived Friday morning at the Washington Barber Shop on Hamilton Street looking for a fresh haircut before the start of the weekend.

Some of them knew about the fatal stabbing in the Allentown shop a day earlier, others learned once they yanked on the front door to find it shut, odd considering it's normally the busiest day of the week for the barbershop.

"I was stunned," said Jose Perez, 38, one of the first customers of the morning. "You wouldn't expect anything like that here. The barbers don't even allow foul language inside."

City police say Jose Reyes-Espinosa, 30, of Allentown, was getting a haircut Thursday afternoon in the barbershop at 1129 Hamilton St. when Eugenio Hernandez-Andino walked in and started arguing with him.

The two men started scuffling, police said, and Hernandez-Andino, 43, pulled a knife and stabbed Reyes-Espinosa several times. Reyes-Espinosa was rushed to a hospital where he died.

Police would not say why the two men were fighting. None of the customers outside the shop on Friday morning said they knew what the fight was about. Some said they may have seen the victim and suspect before, but none knew them personally.

Police respond to a stabbing at the Washington Barber Shop on Hamilton Street in Allentown (MICHAEL KUBEL \ THE MORNING CALL)

Police and paramedics got to the barbershop at 3:32 p.m. and found Reyes-Espinosa bleeding from several stab wounds.

One customer said Reyes-Espinosa had been sitting in the first barber chair before the fight started. After he was stabbed, Reyes-Espinosa was being helped by employees and customers in the back of the store. Paramedics rushed him to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, but he was dead on arrival, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said.

Police investigate a stabbing at a the Washington Barber Shop on Hamilton Street between 11th and 12th streets on Thursday.

Police investigate a stabbing at a the Washington Barber Shop on Hamilton Street between 11th and 12th streets on Thursday.

Police reviewed surveillance video from inside the barber shop that showed Reyes-Espinosa getting a haircut when another man entered and the two men began arguing, according to court records. Reyes-Espinosa tried to walk out of the shop and a struggle ensued, police said. During the struggle, the assailant pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed Reyes-Espinosa multiple times.

Police interviewed a witness, who is not identified in court records due to safety concerns, who was in the barbershop and watched the stabbing unfold, according to court records. That witness picked Hernandez-Andino out of a photo lineup, police said.

Police did not say when they arrested Hernandez-Andino, but a warrant charging him with criminal homicide was filed Thursday night. He was arraigned Friday morning by District Judge Ron Manescu and sent to Lehigh County Jail without bail.

Not much is known about either the suspect or the victim.

The coroner's office listed an address for Reyes-Espinosa on south Madison Street in Allentown, but the residents at the home said he didn't live there and only used the address for mail.

Hernandez-Andino pleaded guilty to harassment in Lehigh County Court in 2004. That same year, prosecutors chose not to proceed with simple assault, harassment and false identification charges against him in separate cases

Friday morning, the barbershop was closed, though its lights and "Open" sign remained on. It is in the storefront of a three-story brick row house a few blocks from downtown Allentown.

Customers, like Perez, arrived early Friday, but after several hours of waiting, they left.

Perez said he comes to the shop almost weekly and has never seen a problem inside. The barbers are very religious, he said, as evidenced by biblical passages adorning the walls of their work stalls.

"They take care of everyone here, men, women, children," Perez said. "My wife comes here and so does my son. This is a quiet, respectable place."

Because of the children, the barbers ask that customers respect one another and not curse, he said.

Isaias Sanchez works at the Boost Mobile store next door to the barber shop said he's never heard any commotion from his neighbors. Like others in the neighborhood, he also didn't hear any yelling or screaming Thursday afternoon.

It wasn't until police swarmed the area that he knew something bad had happened.